Paula's New Doll Part 2: Silent Threed
by The Losar
Summary: The story was written with a deadline, as becomes painfully obvious by the end. It is a creepy trip through Threed years after EarthBound takes place. The Ultimate Evil can be explained in Part 1, if you want to contact me for it.


          Glenn was worried. He was home alone. Normally being home alone is a welcome change. The peace. The quiet. Now the quiet was deafening. The peace was gone.

          Father was on a business trip. He wouldn't be home for weeks. Mother had left for Threed to go shopping. It was supposed to be a three-hour trip. A three-hour trip...

          That was over a day ago. Glenn couldn't do a thing. He tried calling all over Threed: from the pay phone of the drug store to the Mach Pizza Building. Apparently all the phones had been disconnected. 

          The same thing had happened a few years ago. That was before the highway was built between Threed and the town to the south, Threedale, where Glenn lived. At that time the only access to Threed from Threedale was the long way around or through the woods. The woods were filled with zombies then. No one could get through. At least that's what Glenn was told. Glenn had been sheltered as a child. He wasn't allowed outside during the month that Threed was held siege by the undead. He still didn't believe half of it.

          Everyone knew the story of how, five years ago, a group of kids freed the city from the zombies. Sunshine returned, the phone lines reopened, and the workers were able to finish making the road south.

          _Where are those kids now_, thought Glenn, even though they were probably his age now or older.

          Since it appeared as though they weren't going to just pop up and answer his question for him, Glenn finally resolved to go to Threed to find his mom. The cops wouldn't do anything. They were an inept bunch of slackers, all overweight, who sat around their office waiting for their paychecks from the government. They made no secret of this fact.

          Glenn would have to walk to Threed. His mom took his car. This was good, though, because if he could find his car, he could locate his mother.

          He didn't plan on being long. He packed a lunch and a radio to listen to on the way. Thinking he probably wouldn't run into zombies (it was just a thought, after all) he figured a weapon would only weigh him down and make him look suspicious.

          Glenn eventually got outside. It was ten o'clock in the morning. Officially 24 hours since Mother had left. The sun was high, but the sky was a bit dark. Light, thick, gray clouds loomed to the north. Glenn decided that it was not dark enough to be rain and headed off to follow the highway to Threed.

          Glenn came to a stop. He was somewhat winded, having just walked a steady pace for a couple of miles. Few cars passed on the highway today. None were heading to Threed. Now he knew why. The clouds he had seen from his house were the tops of the thick fog before him.

          It looked to Glenn like the fog engulfed all of Threed. He couldn't see very far into the fog at all, either. It was extremely thick. Not driving conditions, that was for sure.

          This strange and foreboding fog didn't scare Glenn. On the contrary, it gave him hope. Maybe it was this fog that caused Mother to stay in Threed. Certainly she had sense enough not to drive in this fog.

          But this still didn't explain why the phone lines wouldn't work. But Glenn could figure that out later.

          Now he was going to walk boldly into this treacherous fog, proudly, as if daring any zombies to come forth. He almost wished they would, just so he could proclaim his facts and logic them out of existence.

_          Surrounded. A zombie everywhere he looked. The zombies looked strangely similar to the football team at Glenn's old school, difference being mainly the rotting flesh and torn jerseys._

_          Glenn stared at one. With a thought he caused the zombie to blast into nonexistence. He did it to another, and another, and another..._

          Glenn, in his daydreaming combined with the limited visibility of the fog, wasn't watching where he was going. In fact, Glenn didn't realize he wasn't alone until –

          "Ow!"

          Glenn was knocked down by whatever was in his way.

          "Oh! I'm sorry, are you okay?"

          A person? Glenn looked up to see a girl looking down at him. She was about Glenn's age. She had apparently been in the fog for a while. Her blonde hair was damp from the condensation, but it was still held up with a red ribbon.

          "Uh, yeah. I'm okay. Sorry, I was someplace else." Or at least he wished he was. The fog seemed to be closing in. He could have sworn he'd just seen something move out there. "Do you, uh, live in Threed?"

          "No, I'm from Twoson," the girl explained as Glenn climbed to his feet. "I think I'm lost, though. I'm not sure I want to go in there..." She was looking into the fog.

          "What could possibly be in there?" said Glenn, sounding more sure about it than he felt. "Expecting a zombie?"

          "If we're lucky, that's all that's out there..."

          Glenn looked at the girl to see if she was joking.

          She wasn't.

          Glenn decided to change the subject.

          "Well, anyway, hi, I'm Glenn Mills. I've come to look for my mother. She came here yesterday and never got home."

          The girl turned to Glenn, an eyebrow cocked. "So, what, are you some kind of mama's boy?"

          Anger shot through Glenn.

          "What's so wrong with loving your moth-"

          "How old are you, Glenn?"

          "Eighteen, and I don't see-"

          "And you still live with your mom?"

          Glenn eyed the girl coolly. "Where do _you_ live, Miss Zombie-Slayer?"

          "_I_ don't count. _I_'m a girl."

          "So where does your _boyfriend_ live?

          The girl smirked. "_He_ lives in a house he bought five years ago."

          Glenn simmered silently for a moment. She won. No doubt about it.

          "Anyway," said the girl, "I'm Paula Polestar and I'm here to look for my doll. My teddy bear to be exact."

          Glenn looked dubious for a second. She came all the way here for a plush toy?

          "What kind of teddy bear is worth coming here for?"

          "Well, I found it around last Halloween, exactly a year ago. I lost it, though. But I'm certain it came here. It's about this tall..." Paula stood on her tiptoes, reached as high as she could. It still didn't seem to be enough, though. "It has the cutest eyes," she added thoughtfully.

          "Okay..." Glenn didn't feel so inferior anymore.

          A sudden shift in the fog reminded Glenn that he had to be going.

          "Well, I'd better go. I hope you find your teddy bear." Glenn started walking.

          "Yeah, take care," returned Paula.

          "What happened here?" Glenn asked the fog, who swayed innocently. He stood before the Threed Drug Store. It looked abandoned. The walls looked abused, stripped. The window was extremely dirty and had small cracks in it. Glenn couldn't tell if the lights were off inside or if the window was just so dirty that you just couldn't see through it.

          But no one was around and there was no evidence of a "closed" sign. Glenn decided to just try to get in and see if anyone had seen his mom at all and, if they did, where she was staying.

          Glenn opened the door slowly. He wasn't scared, but that shriveling feeling in his stomach made him uncomfortable, so he decided to move slowly. 

          It was dark in there. Pitch dark. Glenn felt around for a light switch. The wall was rough with peeling paint, but moist. _Probably from the humidity of the fog_, Glenn figured.

          Eventually his hand came across a switch. He flicked it on and a dim light came from the ceiling, lighting the store, but only just.

          The drugstore was devoid of people. This should have been obvious when the lights were off, but Glenn just had to check. Similarly, he just had to look around the place first before leaving.

          Apparently this place was left in a hurry. The place was trashed but some of the shelves were still stocked, blocked, and ready to sell. There wasn't much food there, though. The food he had might not last much longer.

          Then Glenn heard a shuffle, like something being dragged across the smooth floor. Glenn listened intently for a second. It came again! The sound was coming from behind the counter.

          Was it a cat or something? Or maybe a mouse? _Better check it out_, thought Glenn. He took a step toward the counter. Suddenly a noise was coming from his backpack. It was a loud, annoying screech. Glenn looked at the counter for a moment, wondering what to investigate first. In the end, he put his backpack down and unzipped it. That sound was annoying!

          He fished around in the backpack and located the noisemaker: his radio. Glenn forgot he brought it! He tried changing the station. He had no idea the headphones could get so loud! And no matter what he did, the sound wouldn't stop until he just lowered the volume. All the way, in fact. If he never heard that sound again, it would be too soon.

          That settled, he put the device back in his bag and put the bag back on his back.

          A loud scrape came from behind the counter. Glenn went to the counter and prepared to jump out at whatever was behind it. But before he got the chance to do anything...

          Pain shot through Glenn's leg. Teeth. Strong teeth. And they didn't stop with the first bite. Chomp – chomp – chomp – chomp. This thing wouldn't stop! Glenn looked down to see a dog at his foot.

          But it wasn't a normal dog. It had no fur. The skin was bluish-green. Its flesh was raw and decayed. Bone protruded from places. Dark rings surrounded the eyes, the eyes themselves glowing with a horrible, eerie red, like luminescent blood filled the eye sockets. And the teeth that were slashing and gnawing up and down Glenn's leg were rotted, yellow. They were missing in some places, and the only ones that were sharp at all were the formidable fangs.

          Glenn reached around desperately to find something to beat this thing off him. He groped around the shelves until his hand found its way around a shaft. Glenn grabbed the shaft firmly and swung at the dog. He hit it and the dog yelped. It stopped gnawing at Glenn's leg and backed off, growling and baring its great yellow fangs, which were impressive even if the rest of the mouth wasn't. It lunged again and Glenn hit it back again. The dog stood there, absolutely still, not even breathing. It seemed to be thinking out a strategy. Apparently it didn't like the whole concept of thought, though, because it shook its head violently and charged at Glenn. Glenn dodged the demonic dog and struck it in the back of the head.

          Glenn stood back, prepared for another attack. He watched the dog intently.

          The dog shuddered and turned around. It stared at Glenn unblinking, un-breathing. It shuddered again and took a step. It shuddered and took another step. The next shuddering fit proved too much for the beast. It was struggling to keep steady. Eventually it let out a piercing howl. Then its bright eyes flickered out. The whole body of the dog crumbled into dust on the floor. Then the dust itself seemed to slip under the tiled floor of the drug store.

          Glenn stared at where the dog turned to dust. As the thrill of battle receded, Glenn's thoughts returned to normal.

          _That was a zombie dog_, Glenn thought to himself. _Zombies have taken over Threed... completely this time_.

          He looked at the weapon in his hand. A bat. A Minor League Bat, to be precise.

          _Great_, thought Glenn, _a blunt object. Just what I need_, he added sarcastically.

          He looked around the store for something better to use as a weapon. There were herbs, medicine, and frying pans, but nothing else was better than the bat, sadly.

          Eventually he decided that he'd best just go back home and get something useful, like a machete. Or, better, get one of his own swords from his room. What's the point of buying it if you're not going to use it, right?

          Glenn heard a moaning sound outside. A human zombie, no doubt. Glenn would keep the bat with him a bit longer...

          Just as he was about to leave to face the zombie, pain shot through Glenn's leg once again. Glenn saw that, though the dog's teeth were mostly dull, apparently the fangs broke the skin a few times. Pain shot through his leg again as Glenn examined the wound. Just as he thought: Poison. He couldn't face a zombie like this. The leg began to throb in pain.

          Glenn was just thinking he would be trapped in a drug store to die of poison when-

          "Of course! I'm in a drug store!" He looked around and almost immediately found what he was looking for: A Vial of Serum. He applied the serum and stocked up on more while the serum took effect.

          The moaning outside got louder and lower and louder again. The zombie wouldn't stay still, but couldn't get far enough away as Glenn was concerned. 

          When the pain in his leg subsided and he was sure he was ready for anything, Glenn put his hand on the door and hesitated. The thought of his mother having been killed... by those things out there... No. She was alive; somewhere in this town she was alive and waiting for him.

          He pushed open the door, bat in hand, to meet the horror waiting for him outside...

          The zombie seemed to be walking into the wall when Glenn exited the drug store. The thing apparently believed in the saying "the fastest way from Point A to Point B is a straight line". But once it noticed Glenn, it turned from the wall and began its advance.

          The zombie was ugly. The flesh was blue and decayed, like the dog's. The hair was white and wispy. The nails were long and the eyes were just like the dog's: bright blood red with dark rings around the eye sockets. Two large teeth protruded from his mouth. The only article of clothing the zombie had was a pair of fashionably horrifying shorts.

          The zombie staggered forward toward Glenn. Then, with a moan of excursion, the zombie lunged at Glenn, who dodged but couldn't get close enough to attack. The zombie turned back to Glenn. The eyes of the zombie blinked black for a second. Its normally slouched back straightened. The zombie's hands went to its hips and the face looked up. It started laughing. Slowly at first, but the laughs got harsher, louder, and harder. The maniacal laughter seemed to ring throughout the cursed town.

          The first thing Glenn thought to do was make it shut up. He went to the zombie and swung with all his might. The laughter stopped abruptly as the zombie's head flew through the window of the drug store. It had been knocked clean off the body, which was returning to the dust of the Earth before Glenn's eyes.

          Glenn didn't linger. He set off toward his house. His first priority was to get out of Threed. He'd come up with a plan when he was sure he was safe.

          The fog seemed thicker now than it was on his way in. More than once Glenn could have sworn he heard footsteps out there in the mist. Heavy footsteps that could in no way be mistaken for an echo of Glenn's light-footed steps.

          Then Glenn stopped. He couldn't go any further. Literally. The road ended and a chasm opened before him. He couldn't see the other side, for the fog. It was like Glenn stood at the edge of the world. He was trapped. The town wouldn't let him leave.

          The fog before Glenn shifted and swirled. It condensed into the vague shape of a ghost... And then two dark circles appeared on the face of the apparition. Blood red, glowing eyes opened in the circles. Just like the dog... just like the zombie.

          _A zombie without a body of its own yet_, concluded Glenn.

          "Go back... go back..."

          _Well_, figured Glenn, _if they have to guard it there must be some way through_!

          He raised his bat. The Zombie Possessor bobbed up and down in the air, as if chuckling. Glenn attacked the Zombie Possessor, but the Zombie Possessor reached out with its icy hand... Glenn was frozen.

          Two more Zombie Possessors materialized out of the mist. They grouped on Glenn. Glenn got hurt and collapsed...

          Glenn had never gotten his head handed to him before. He wasn't prepared for the after-effects. His head throbbed, his chest hurt, his eyes refused to open, and he had no idea where he was.

          Well, now that he thought about it, he was in a chair. One of those square kind with a metal frame and thin leather cushions for the seat and back. And there was a faint spell of peroxide in the air.

          A doctor's office?

          Glenn opened his eyes and looked around. How'd he get here? He'd never been to... to... Glenn looked for a sign. He didn't see one but by the receptionist desk and red crosses around here and there, Glenn was able to conclude that he was in the Threed General Medical Center.

          _About right_, thought Glenn. _It's where sick people go_.

          He was on the bottom floor, it seemed. Whoever brought him here apparently didn't think to bring him to a room. But maybe that was for the best. This place was as deserted as the drug store, if in better condition. The lights were out, but light from outside the windows showed the walls to be a bit worn, but not chipping. Not to mention that the windows themselves were not half as dirty as the drug store's.

          Glenn got up from his seat. A note fell from his lap to the floor. He picked it up, thinking it was from whoever rescued him. But it wasn't. It was a list of things to do. His mom's list of things she was supposed to do, in fact!

1. Buy groceries

2. Restock Medicine

3. Visit Uncle Will in Hospital. 302

          _Uncle who?_ Glenn didn't recall having an Uncle Will, much less that he was in the hospital. And what did 302 mean? Glenn's mom never wrote anything for no reason. But both the groceries and the medicine could be bought at the drug store. Maybe she stopped here?

          Glenn looked around. There were no zombies around. No scraping, no moaning. Maybe they never made it into the hospital? Maybe his mom was here somewhere!

          Figuring the best place to start was the beginning, Glenn entered Room 101, the doctor's office.

          It was as if no one had been here. The room was tidy, the desk covered with neatly stacked papers. Nothing unusual. Glenn went on to Room 102, the receptionist's office. There was nothing and no one.

          No one was on the first floor, obviously. Glenn headed to the second floor, where the patient rooms were.

          This would take a bit more time. From the top of the stairs, Glenn looked into a hall. There were four doors to the left, four doors to the right, and the opposite side of the hall ended in a blank wall.

          Glenn decided to go clockwise, starting at 201... 203... 205... 207... then the other side, 208... 206... 204... When Glenn stepped into Room 202, only to find it empty like the others, he took out the note again.

          302... The thought crossed Glenn's mind that maybe it was a room number... But that was impossible! There was no third floor!

          The fog outside the window shifted. Glenn didn't notice. When he walked out of the room, he made one more despairing gaze down the hall...

          A staircase had appeared at the end of the hall. It led up to...

          "The third floor!" exclaimed Glenn. He ran to the staircase and halfway up when he realized that the staircase didn't exist until just now.

          He hesitated, stepped back once, and a door closed behind him. Glenn looked back to see that it was the door to the staircase that closed. But Glenn didn't remember a door there when he climbed up here a second ago... He went down to the door at the bottom of the stairs. Sure enough, it was locked.

          Glenn sighed and looked back up at the stairs. He had no choice, he had to go up there. He had a really bad feeling. He must have been wrong. There were definitely zombies here.

          It wasn't until then, not a moment sooner, that Glenn noticed that he had no weapon. His bat was gone.

          Glenn balled his hands into fists. He'd fight those zombies barehanded if he had to. He walked up the stairs.

          The silence was loud, horribly loud. Glenn had thoughts of ripping his ears off so he wouldn't have to listen to it.

          The stairs led to another hallway with four doors on each side. But Glenn went straight to Room 302. 

          Inside he found... nothing.

          He searched the room, but found nothing. It was just another patient room, with two beds and a dresser.

          Glenn left the room and glanced in each of the others. There were only six patient rooms on this floor. The last two were bathrooms.

          Speaking of which, Glenn had to go. He went into the Men's room. He went to a random stall. He opened it.

          Glenn's eyes widened. His stomach shriveled. And he fainted where he stood, on the floor of the bathroom of the non-existent third floor of the Threed General Medical Center.

          The image of what he saw flooded Glenn's mind. That poor guy. That poor guy! It was gruesome. Red, everywhere stained red... And the fishing line was handled with true sadism.

          Glenn was conscious again, but he didn't want to open his eyes. He knew what he'd see. But his back hurt. It was like the floor was made of many small spikes.

          _One surprise after another_, thought Glenn. He stood up and looked down. The floor was no longer the clean tiled floor of the hospital. The floor was dirty iron grating. Glenn was still in the bathroom. The sinks were horrid looking, the walls full of grime and graffiti that Glenn couldn't make out. 

          Glenn hesitated, then looked into the stall. He breathed easy. The body wasn't there, though the walls of the stall were still stained red. But an object on the floor caught Glenn's attention.

          On the floor lay a bat. A nice bat at that. Well, as far as bats go, it was good. Glenn would still rather have a bladed weapon. But now was not the time to be picky. Any weapon was better than having no weapon at all around here.

          He picked up the bat. The grip was great. The black grip matched the ebony wood of the bat. The words "Hall of Fame" were printed in gold on the business end of it.

          Glenn heard heavy footsteps below him. Glenn looked down through the grating, but the room below was dark. But maybe he could get there. He was probably still in the hospital, just in a demonic altered version of it.

          He walked to the door and noise came from his backpack. The same noise that he heard from his radio in the drug store. Someone had turned the volume back on! Glenn was about to take off his school bag and take it back off, when a scrape and a moan came from outside the door.

          Glenn hesitated. An idea occurred to him. He let the sound play and walked out the door.

          A zombie was standing right outside, but Glenn was prepared. He SMAAASH!ed it and it turned to dust. The noise played on. Glenn looked down the hall to see another zombie, the glowing eyes giving away its position. Glenn charged and thrust the end of the bat into the zombie's gut. The zombie collapsed and turned to dust. The noise from Glenn's bag stopped.

          _So I was right_, concluded Glenn. _That radio goes off when a zombie is nearby_.

          This useful knowledge gained, Glenn relaxed and looked around. True, this was still the hospital. But the floor of the hospital was missing in some places. The walls were stained and awful looking. And instead of a staircase, there was a door of metal. An elevator door, from its design and the button on the wall next to it.

          Okay, the same hospital, but not quite.

          Glenn was about to press the elevator down button, when a noise came from the room to his left. He looked – Room 302. Glenn forgot about the elevator and went to the room. The radio in Glenn's bag started again. Glenn raised his bat.

          He opened the door. Sure enough, another zombie. It laughed maniacally. A "fatal" mistake. Glenn disposed of it quickly. When the radio was silent once again, Glenn began to look around the room once more. One thing was different. There was a TV in there now. It had a VCR, but no tape in it. Glenn looked elsewhere. Something shiny caught his eye from the floor. It was a key. The tag said "201". 

          _What was in Room 201_?

          Glenn bent down to get it, but accidentally kicked it instead. It fell through the grating of the floor into the room below.

          Frustrated, Glenn left the room and went to the elevator. The door opened with a "ding" and Glenn entered. He pressed "2" and waited. The door closed and started down. When it stopped, Glenn got out and went to the room to his right, which was directly under room 302. It was room 207.

          There were no zombies here, just a regular room. But there was no key on the floor, either. Glenn noticed a sizable hole in the floor.

          Glenn shook his head in frustration. _There **would** be a hole there_, he thought.

          He decided to get the key after he checked out the room under the 3rd floor bathroom. The footsteps he'd heard from there were not a zombie's. They were made by big, heavy feet.

          Come to think of it, they reminded Glenn of the footsteps following him through the fog before he was beaten by the ghosts.

          Another strange thing was that there were no zombies on this floor. The radio was completely silent.

          Glenn got to the door under the third floor men's restroom and turned the knob. Locked. He looked up and saw that this was Room 201.

          _Of course_! thought Glenn. _Even though the stairs are gone, the numbers are still opposite the ones upstairs_!

          And so, the key was important after all. Glenn walked quickly down the hall to the elevator. The door opened and Glenn stepped in. He pressed "1" and tapped his foot in impatience. When the door opened, Glenn got his bat ready. If he knew anything about zombies (which he could now say he did), then they'd be just waiting for him on the first floor to stop him from leaving.

          As it was, apparently Glenn didn't know zombies that well. When the door opened, the first floor waiting area was like the second floor hallway: broken floored, nightmarish walls, and mysteriously devoid of undead. 

          Glenn stepped out of the elevator without the bat at ready, but he didn't relax just yet. The thought occurred to Glenn that maybe something was defeating the zombies. Something that wasn't dead. Something powerful enough to wipe out an entire first floor waiting area of zombies.

          **_That_**, thought Glenn, _would be scarier than **any** zombie_.

          Glenn scanned the floor. There was the key. It landed by the receptionist's desk. Glenn grabbed it and went back to the elevator. It wasn't until the door of the elevator closed that Glenn realized there was no exit from this demented hospital. The elevator was where the exit should be on the first floor...

          When Glenn got to the second floor, he went straight to Room 201. He unlocked the door and looked inside.

          There wasn't much more there than in the other rooms. However, there was a flashlight on the bed. Glenn took it and turned it on. It worked great. Glenn attached it to his bag. The only other thing in there was a videotape on the dresser. Glenn examined it. The side panel read "302".

          Glenn carried the tape in his hands to the elevator. He didn't know why they wanted to lock this tape up, but it must be important.

          He remembered that Room 302 had a TV and a VCR, so he'd try to watch it there. He went back to the elevator. On the way back up, an ominous ripping sound was coming from above. When the elevator stopped, Glenn quickly stepped out of the elevator and the door closed innocently.

          Glenn didn't worry too much, though. If he was lucky he'd only have to use it once more.

          He went into Room 302 and checked the back of the television with the flashlight. The wires were all hooked up and the TV was already plugged in. Satisfied, Glenn put the tape into the VCR and turned the TV on.

          It was showing a patient's room. This room. Glenn looked up at the corner of the ceiling. Sure enough, there was a security camera set up. It hung limply from its wires, but it once had a stand to look straight into the room.

          Glenn turned back to the TV.

          A man was sitting on the bed. He was elderly, balding, and looked stressed. He rocked back and forth on the bed, his hands clutching the mattress he sat on.

          A noise came from off camera of a door opening. The man nearly leapt out of his skin. But his expression softened when he saw whom it was that opened the door.

          It was a woman. Glenn knew her immediately. It was his mother.

          _So she **was** here_, he thought.

          The man smiled wanly. "I'm so sorry I made you come here..."

          "Do I know you?" asked Glenn's mom. "I got your letter in the mail but I really don't know who you are."

          "I know, I know. I really don't know who you are either. _They_ made me write that letter!"

          "They? The doctors?"

          "No!" The man looked serious, a wild look in his eyes. "It was the –"

          A scrape and a moan came from off screen.

          The man went deathly pale.

          "What was that?" asked Glenn's mom.

          "You have to leave! Now!" The man was shaking.

          "What is it?"

          "_Them!_" He reached under his bed and pulled out a rope made of bed sheets.

          "The doctors? They only want to-"

          "No! Dang it, not doctors!" The man opened his window and latched it up. "Zombies! The zombies of Threed!"

          "Zombies?" Whether her worried expression was because she believed him or because she didn't, Glenn couldn't tell.

          "You've got to leave. I won't be able to help you get out of town but I can at least get you out of here!"

          The man tied the rope to the bed and dropped the rest out the window.

          Glenn's mom screamed. Something was trying to crash through the door. She might have even seen the zombies by now.

          "Quick!" yelled the man. The light outside the window was dimming. "You've got to climb down! Head to the hotel!"

          A crash. A loud moan. Glenn's mom was frantic. The man held her firmly and guided her to the window.

          "Get someplace safe!" he called "I'll hold them off long enough for you to get away!"

          Glenn's mom climbed out the window as fog began to set in. The zombies advanced on the old man. "Back!" he said, holding up his fists. "I was afraid of you five years ago, hiding in the tent, but for the first time in my life I'll protect someone other than myself. Eyaaah!"

          The man tried to fend the zombies off, but it was a losing battle.

          The screen went blank.

          Glenn was silent.

          The corpse in the bathroom stall... that poor man. But now Glenn knew where to go. The hotel. Threed Sunset Hotel.

          But why did the zombies lure his mom here? It would seem to Glenn that the man on the tape was some guy the zombies captured that was given his life in return for his work. He'd obviously had enough of doing evil deeds.

          Glenn headed for the elevator. He pressed the button and the door opened. Glenn stepped in and pressed "1". The door closed, and the elevator began to go down.

          Something above snapped. The elevator gave an almighty lurch and dropped a few feet, knocking Glenn off of his feet. The elevator was going to give! He had forgotten about the noise he heard earlier!

          Glenn tried to steady himself but the elevator snapped again and dropped, leaving Glenn sprawled out on the floor. Then everything was silent. The elevator stopped moving. Glenn lay absolutely still, afraid to move. Something above was shuffling. Glenn's radio started again. And the elevator started to fall.

          Glenn, on his back, felt like his stomach was trying to force its way out of his belly. He wasn't even on the floor anymore, but an inch or two above it. The radio continued to wail, and Glenn prepared for impact.

          The bottom of the elevator came back up to meet him. The elevator hit the bottom of its shaft. Something crashed through the roof of the elevator and the radio stopped making noise. The impact took out the zombie that must've trapped the elevator.

          Glenn stood up. His neck and back were stiff, but other than that he was okay. He gathered his things that were scattered about the floor then went to the door. He managed to pry the door open with his hands and step out.

          This was not the first floor. It was a short hallway with a door at the end. Come to think of it, that fall was a bit longer than it should have been. He had to be a good ways under the hospital. Which meant he now had to figure out how to leave.

          And leave he would. He had to get to the hotel.

          Glenn walked down the hall to the door. The door was covered with signs. A toxic sign... An explosive sign... A sharp objects sign... The room was labeled "BGMC Medical Experimentation Lab." Glenn shivered. He didn't like the sound of it. In fact, he resolved to not go in there. He'd climb up the elevator shaft to the ground floor and find a way out there.

          He turned to walk away and a hum came from his backpack. Glenn then realized he had no choice but to enter the room. His bag grew louder as noise of objects landing on metal came from the elevator. Glenn turned back to the door and opened it. He didn't see the zombies climbing down one by one from the roof of the elevator. He didn't see the zombies walk out of the elevator and advance toward him down the hall. He didn't need to. He walked in the door and closed it behind him. The noise in his bag stopped as a scattering noise came from somewhere in the darkness.

          The lighting in the Lab was dim. The walls to the right and left of Glenn were made of fencing. A dim red light could be seen beyond the fencing, lighting the lab in an eerie red tint. The lab itself was pretty big. Experiment tables were spaced out along the walls, but the middle of the room was empty.

          Rat cages were right to the right of Glenn as he walked in. Their doors were all open, the cages empty. Glenn recalled hearing a scurrying noise as he entered the room. Obviously the rats were still around.

          He went to one of the experiment tables. Empty beakers labeled "BGMC" were scattered throughout the table.

          What was BGMC? Sounded like an acronym, but for what? The hospital was often advertised as TGMC, for Threed General Medical Center. The letters were very close...

          A small animal scurried onto the platform at the middle of the laboratory. Glenn forgot about the beaker to check out the rat, which was what went to the platform, no doubt.

          He stepped onto the platform carefully, half-expecting something to jump at him from the shadows.

          But nothing moved. The rat seemed absorbed in its own business. Glenn couldn't see what it was doing. The light was too dim. Glenn took out his flashlight. He turned it on and shined it on the rat.

          It was a strange rat. The fur was purplish-red. Its front teeth were large and protruded from its mouth, but not in the goofy way the zombies' did. These teeth could hurt a lot if used right.

          After a second, the rat seemed to notice it was being observed. It turned to Glenn, staring into the light of the flashlight. With a squeak it jumped on two legs.

          Either this was a cute trick it was taught or it was preparing to fight.

          This is a medical lab. This mouse had to be a medical experiment. A deadly mouse. What a weapon! No one could suspect!

          The mouse charged at Glenn. Glenn tried to dodge, but the mouse was quick. It jumped high and bit Glenn on the shoulder. The teeth bit deep, nearly causing Glenn to yell in pain. He grabbed the mouse and threw it clear off the platform to a table. The mouse crashed through a beaker and landed on the floor, glass shattering around it.

          Glenn checked the wound. It was bad, probably poisoned. He grabbed a vial of Serum from his bag and used it, then he got his bat ready. The fight wasn't over. Already Glenn could hear the skittering of small feet. The bite wouldn't keep him from fighting.

          The rat jumped onto the platform and sped toward Glenn. Glenn raised the bat, readying to time his swing. The rat ran right past Glenn. He turned to it and swung as it turned and jumped at him. To Glenn's amazement, the swing that should have finished the little beast actually allowed it to cling to the bat.

          It ran down the shaft at Glenn. The rat jumped straight at Glenn's face, but Glenn grabbed it in mid-air. He held the tail and swung the rat in circles by it, then threw the rat to the floor. It bounced back up with a squeak and Glenn swung. The rat was knocked straight to the wall, squeaking again when it hit.

          It was finished. Glenn relaxed. He took out his flashlight, and began to scan the walls for an exit.

          But the rat wasn't done. Glenn gasped, surprised when the rat jumped back onto the platform, eyes flaring red. It seemed to shift in and out of focus. The rat began to grow. It grew huge! The rat was soon up to Glenn's knee... his waist... It was bigger than him!

          It stopped growing. Glenn could almost see the humungous rat grinning.

          A voice rang into Glenn's mind. A deep, caustic voice that came from nowhere, but he knew it was the rat communicating with him. The rat sat silently, grinning, as its voice rang in Glenn's mind.

          **_This was the hospital of Threed_**, said the rat, **_but it's mine now! Take it from me... if you dare!_**

          The rat was no longer the deadly mouse it seemed to be before. Now it was the Plague Rat of Doom. Glenn didn't know what to do. He couldn't fight _this_!

          The Rat charged at Glenn and Glenn raised the bat to defend himself, even though it was futile. This was the end. He couldn't stop the rat alone...

          Suddenly, the Plague Rat of Doom was knocked over. A huge man appeared. His body was big, buff. He wore no shirt. His big, baggy pants were tied up with a cloth belt. His huge feet were encased in iron boots. And his head... was the head of a Teddy Bear.

          The Plague Rat of Doom regained his feet. His voice rang out in Glenn's head.

          **_Wh... what?! Who are you?!_**

          The teddy bear man's mouth didn't move, but he spoke in a high-pitched, monotonous voice.

          "I am... The Ultimate Evil."

          The Ultimate Evil? Glenn didn't like the thought of that.

          The Plague Rat of Doom seemed about to say something else, but didn't get the chance. The Ultimate Evil barreled into the rat. The rat tried to attack, but he didn't have the height advantage he had over Glenn. The Ultimate Evil was ten feet tall. The rat never stood a chance. After being pummeled for a while, the rat gave an almighty squeak and keeled over.

          The Ultimate Evil advanced on Glenn.

          Bright light was coming from everywhere. The lab was vanishing before Glenn's eyes, though Ultimate Evil wasn't. When the light cleared, Glenn was no longer in a lab. He sat on a chair in the waiting area of the Threed General Medical Center. The real one. And Ultimate Evil stood between Glenn and the exit.

          "When the Plague Rat of Doom was defeated the illusionary world of Bleed lost its hold on this hospital," said Ultimate Evil in a high-pitched, monotonous voice. He turned around and walked out of the hospital, taking his heavy footsteps with him, leaving Glenn alone.

          Those heavy footsteps... He'd heard them in the fog... and in the third floor bathroom...

          _So **he's** doing this to me_," thought Glenn. **_He's_**_ torturing me. **He** set those Zombie Possessors on me in the fog. **He** locked that tape in Room 201. And when that darn rat was about to kill me, he defeated it so I can live and continue being tortured in this demented town_!"

          Glenn stood up, ready to chase after the Ultimate Evil in the fog, when he remembered that he had to find his mom. He could leave now. He could go to the hotel. Glenn walked to the doors of the hospital. They opened at his touch and he walked into the fog.

          Glenn walked through the streets of Threed cautiously. More than once a zombie loomed out of the fog toward him, and he dispatched them quickly. He could tell they were close and prepare for them since he figured out how to work the radio. There didn't seem to be any life in Threed, though. Glenn was sure that the old man was the only person left alive after the town was taken over.

          Therefore he was surprised when he found a woman standing outside the Threed Sunset Hotel.

          She was an attractive blonde, with skimpy black clothes and sunglasses. Glenn was about to ask her who she was and what she was doing in Threed, but when she noticed Glenn she zipped inside the hotel. 

          Glenn followed, paying no attention to the horrible shape the hotel was in. He had to talk to this person. He suddenly really needed to talk to someone alive!

          As Glenn stepped into the hotel, he tripped on the doorway, fell to the grated floor of the hotel. He jumped up quickly. Grating was painful on the hands when you catch yourself falling. The woman was heading to the bedrooms. Glenn followed, past the empty checkout desk, through the door to the rooms. The lady was standing in the hall. When Glenn got close she ran to the last door of the hall. He followed her as she went into the room.

          The room was dark when Glenn closed the door behind him. He found a light switch along the decayed wall and flicked it on. He regretted this immediately.

          Zombies, ghosts, zombie dogs, everywhere around him. And then Glenn noticed how similar the hotel room looked to the demented hospital. 

          He turned around, tried to open the door, but it was locked. Glenn turned back to the zombies. They advanced. Glenn saw the woman he'd chased standing behind the crowd of zombies, petting a zombie dog, a gleeful expression on her face.

          Glenn raised his bat.

          The woman yelled an order to attack. At the same time, a voice from behind Glenn, on the other side of the door, told him to get down.

          He lay on his stomach, hands over his head. The zombies were right on top of him when the door exploded off its hinges, blasting it into the congregation of zombies above Glenn. 

          Glenn risked raising his head to see Paula standing in the doorway. He stood up and ran beside her instead of behind her, like a coward. He didn't want to show fear now.

          Paula stepped into the room, sizing up the situation. Some of the zombies didn't last the initial blast, but most were regrouping to attack.

          "Fire Omega!" yelled Paula. She extended her hand and a searing flame erupted from her fingers. The zombies burned and disintegrated into dust on the spot. Glenn watched, wide-eyed, his grip on his bat wavering.

          The flames disappeared as fast as the came. Paula's hands rubbed her temples slowly, much like when Glenn would get a migraine.

          The only things left after Paula's attack were the woman Glenn followed into the hotel and the dog she kept beside her.

          She stepped forward, guiding the zombie dog with her. She was smiling.

          "I'll get her this time," said Paula, taking out her Holy Frying Pan. "You," she said to Glenn, "get the dog. You can handle it, right?" She glanced at the bat Glenn held.

          Glenn snorted indignantly. "Of course I can handle a zombie dog!"

          Paula and Glenn broke from each other, Glenn to the dog, Paula to the woman.

          The dog bared its teeth, jumped at Glenn, who raised his bat in defense. The dog knocked the bat away, however, and sharp, white teeth bore into Glenn's shoulder. Glenn tried to push the dog off, but it kicked back, slashed with its sharp claws.

          Glenn thought he was going to faint when-

          *Clunk*

          The dog howled in pain, releasing Glenn. It backed away, whimpering. It had been struck hard by a frying pan. 

          Glenn looked at Paula, then looked behind her. On the floor, unmoving, lay a Handsome Tom, the true form of the hotel seductress.

          "That's not a normal Zombie Dog," said Paula. "It bit you, right? Do you feel poisoned?"

          Glenn rubbed his shoulder where he was bitten, very near his neck. The wound hurt at the touch, but – "No," said Glenn. "It's not poisoned."

          The dog barked, then panted. Zombies didn't pant. The dog howled a piercing howl. Flame spewed from its mouth and engulfed the dog. And the howl went on. The dog looked at Glenn. Though now made of flame, the eyes were still red, surrounded by a ring of black.

          "You should leave," said Paula. "This is a Carbon Dog. It will make the Zombie Dogs look like Runaway Dogs."

          Glenn almost obeyed her. The dog was certainly scary. How could he fight flame with a wooden bat?

          Before he could escape, though, his only exit was blocked. The Carbon Dog stood in the way. 

          _How fast_! thought Glenn.

          He decided to take a chance. He swung at the head of the Carbon Dog. It hit home! The dog reeled with a wild whimper. Glenn smiled triumphantly, then yelped himself as he dropped a burning bat.

          It burned to ashes at his feet. Glenn cursed and jumped back near Paula, who was concentrating. At least Glenn managed to distract the Carbon Dog from Paula long enough for her to start an attack. He stood clear of her and the dog.

          "PSI Freeze Omega!" shouted Paula. She extended her hand and made a swirling motion with her fingers. Simultaneously, ice began to form around the Carbon Dog in a swirling motion. In a quick motion, Paula's hand closed into a fist. At the same time, the ice around the Carbon Dog closed into a solid block of ice. Paula held it there as long as she could, but eventually she loser her grip on her attack. Her hand fell, her eyes opened. The block of ice the dog was frozen in started to crack. Eventually it shattered and the doused dog slumped to the floor.

          Paula eyed the dog expectantly, but it lie still. Light seemed to be coming from everywhere as the hotel room disappeared, only to be replaced by the office of the original hotel.

          "So that dog was the thing holding this building in the alternate dimension," said Glenn.

          "Alternate dimension?" asked Paula.

          "Yeah. Apparently whatever took over Threed is trying to alter it into a demon city called Bleed."

          "Hmm," said Paula, thoughtfully.

          "It happened in the hospital, too. Umm... so, how'd you know where to find me?"

          "Find you?" Paula shook her head. "I happened to be walking by when I saw that woman lure you in the hotel."

          "Lure me? I'll have you know that I'm not some pervert looking for an easy girl! And second of all, how could I even think like that at a time like this? I only wanted to-"

          "I know," said Paula. "I meant lure as in any type of leading you into a trap. Naturally she looked suspicious and you wanted to question her. I know. She tricked me once before a long time ago. I knew what she was going to do and was able to help you."

          "Oh..." Glenn's face reddened, embarrassed.

          "But last time there was no Carbon Dog. No other dimension, either. And I expected the Carbon Dog to turn into a Diamond Dog when we defeated him. I don't understand it."

          "I don't understand any of it," said Glenn. "I just want my mom to be..."

          "What?" asked Paula. Glenn was staring at her.

          "Your teddy bear... was it about ten feet tall?"

          "Yes."

          "Did it have big iron boots and baggy pants?"

          "Yes..."

          "And a broad, buff, and bare upper body?"

          "Yes!" Paula's eyes glittered, she clasped her hands together.

          "Your teddy bear is the Ultimate Evil?"

          "Yes! Wow, did you see him? Did he say anything? Is he okay? Oh My God, he isn't hurt, is he? Where is he now? Is he here? Is he in the hospital? No! He couldn't be in the hospital, can he? I mean he's big and buff, right? When did you see him?"

          "I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS, OKAY?"

          "Well you don't have to shout..." Paula thought for a moment. "I think we need to split up. Even if you do find your mom and I do find my Ulty we can't leave until the evil is gone and the road returns.

          "There are two places I can think of to look. There's a graveyard to the northeast with a passage under it." Glenn shuddered at the thought. Paula noticed. "That's the one I was going to take anyway, so stop that. The other one's in the center of town. You'll check out the circus tent, okay?"

          Glenn nodded. He really didn't like this much better than the cemetery. A city landmark, the tent is seen as a beacon for paranormal activity. That's why no one has dared take it down these past five years. 

          Glenn was about to embark on his trip, when Paula caught up with him.

          "I noticed you lost your weapon. Here, take this one." Paula handed Glenn a bat. It was light, but felt powerful. Glenn felt his courage return just by holding it.

          "It's an awesome weapon," said Paula. "It belongs to my boyfriend, who, by the way, will do something nasty to you if you lose it or burn it or get it eaten or anything."

          "He'll do something nasty?"

          "Let's just say an extended hospital visit," said Paula with a smile. That thought scared Glenn more than Paula knew.

          Paula took off west in the fog toward the graveyard, leaving Glenn alone. He stared toward his destination. He couldn't see the Circus Tent through the fog, even though it was night across the road. He started walking.

          The large, canvas tent loomed out of the fog as Glenn neared. The entrance was on the other side.

          The tent itself was in bad shape. It was stained in places, the color was fading. Holes were ripped in the tenting, and tears, cuts, and scratches littered the surface of the tent.

          When Glenn made it to the front of the tent, he stepped back to take a good look at the tent.

          It was a big tent. The majority of the structure was lost in the fog, but by the entrance alone Glenn could see that the tent must have once been magnificent. The entrance was large and open, lined with intricate designs that were now tattered and torn. But, after five years, the magnificence had been lost.

          Glenn took out his flashlight and walked into the morbid, dreary, dark entrance of the tent.

          The eerie, blue-tinted light coming through the holes in the tent illuminated parts of the inside. Glenn's flashlight shone noticeably against the dim light. His yellow beam searched over tables, chairs, poles, a cage, and many other circus-type things. But nothing was noteworthy.

          Finally, Glenn decided to sit at the table and examine the room from the comfort of a sitting position. The table was at about the very center of the tent. A single, thin beam of light shone upon it from the ceiling. Glenn sat down in the chair nearest to the light.

          Instead of looking around the tent like he was supposed to, Glenn crossed his arms over the table and laid his head in them, watching the little circle of light on the table.

          _There's nothing here_, Glenn thought, but he wasn't disappointed at all. The thought of evil clown zombies was worse than normal ones. Glenn shivered, closed his eyes to banish the thought. He thought of nice things, happy things, like his computer and his house. Friends.

          Glenn sighed and opened his eyes. He looked for the circle of light, and found it. It seemed to have moved an inch. Or was it moving now? Glenn rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times.

          It _was_ moving! And it was moving faster now, too! But light doesn't move like that...

          Glenn looked up. The ceiling was turning. In fact, the whole tent was spinning! Or was the floor spinning? Glenn couldn't tell.

            Suddenly the floor gave way. Glenn and his chair fell through a hole in the floor that suddenly appeared there. Everything went dark as he plunged through the air down, down, down until... Glenn felt the chair beneath him meet resistance. He and the chair were apparently about to bounce back up into the darkness, except that whatever the chair landed on held it fast. The elastic substance let Glenn and the chair bounce up and down for a while. Glenn would have flown off long ago if not for the Death-like grip with which he held the chair. When the chair finally stopped swaying, Glenn opened his eyes. There was no light anywhere. He couldn't even see the light when he looked up to where the tent was.

          He took out his flashlight. Looking around, Glenn saw that he was in an iron, vertical tunnel. There were two sets of stairs spiraling down the sides opposite each other. Glenn looked down at what caught him.

          It didn't seem like much at first glance. Some smooth white rope had caught the chair. But then Glenn noticed that there were many ropes overlapping each other from one side of the tunnel to the other. He noticed the design of the room, how they overlapped each other. And then Glenn remembered that it was sticky. Extremely sticky and strong to hold the chair at the momentum it must have been going.

          This was a giant spider's web. Glenn hurriedly searched around the web with the flashlight. There were no spiders on it at the moment, for which Glenn was thankful.

          He moved his foot over to the side of the chair and carefully placed his foot on the thread. He shifted his weight to test it and brought his other leg over. He stood up and tested his balance. He got nauseous and stopped testing his balance.

          Glenn put a hand on the chair and grabbed it, trying to lift it. It eventually gave and Glenn held it above his head. He took a few steps along the thread, using the chair to try to maintain balance. Every step was a struggle to lift his feet free of the sticky web.

          Eventually, after nearly losing his shoes three times, Glenn made it to one of the sets of stairs. He tossed the chair into the pit and began walking. About a minute later, the sound of the chair crashing to the bottom echoed through the tunnel.

          It was going to be a long way down, but if this ended up being the base of the evil that made this city evil, Glenn might be able to beat this evil and go home...

          A long time after, Glenn was sure he'd reached the bottom floor. He might not be, though. The monotonous "tp, tp, tp"ing of his steps on the thin metal stairs, multiplied by the echoes off the hard tunnel walls, may have driven him insane.

          But the stairs had stopped. The floor was flat. Glenn shined his light around to get a goof look at his surroundings. It was definitely the bottom. The center of the floor didn't have a pit. It had spikes. Huge spikes. And it may have been Glenn's imagination, but he could have sworn that some of the spikes were stained red.

          Glenn walked a bit further and found the splintered remains of his chair. If that web hadn't been there...

          He eventually reached a small, indiscrete door. Next to it stood a huge, white ball. It was stuck to the wall by heavy amounts of webbing.

          Apparently this was another place the spider that made the web up there hung out. Glenn looked around with the flashlight again. He didn't need a giant spider to pop out at him right now.

          He looked over the spikes and saw something else sticking up out of it. Thinner than the spikes, the huge spider's legs stood out against the darkness.

          But the spider was dead. It had fallen and gotten impaled by the spikes, it seemed. But Glenn didn't investigate. A dead spider is still scary.

          Glenn rested his mind and turned to the door. He pulled on the handle and the door swung open silently.

          Inside the door was a strange area. Boxes and boxes of staff were stacked along the walls. The boxes were uniform in size and logo, which was a fly with a curvy motion line behind it.

          Glenn took a box and opened it. There was a jar inside! It was a glass jar, filled with a yellowish syrup-like substance. Glenn opened the jar and stuck his finger in the stuff. It was sticky. Glenn hesitated. This stuff might not be safe. He'd obviously crossed into Bleed by now, and nothing in Bleed was safe. Not to mention that the stuff didn't smell like anything he would like. The smell was strong and sweet, but a strange sweetness. Glenn couldn't relate it to anything he knew.

          But Glenn brought the finger up to his mouth anyway. He took a small lick.

          "Blech!" Glenn spat and wiped the stuff off his finger. The stuff was way too sweet and left a really bad aftertaste.

          He put the cap back on the jar and stuffed it into his bag. He'd have to analyze it later, but there didn't seem to be anything else in this room, or the rest of this circus pit for that matter, so he decided to take his leave of this place. He left the room.

          Outside, Glenn was about to begin heading for the stairs, when a slurping, swishy noise came from behind him. He looked.

          There was the large, white ball. There was movement inside it.

          Glenn stepped back once.

          The movement became more rapid. A thin, black leg protruded from the ball's white surface.

          Glenn stepped back again.

          Holes appeared. Spiders, huge spiders, began to flow out of the white ball. Their exoskeletons were soft, it seemed, but they already began to look for food. Legs flailing, they started after Glenn.

          But Glenn had already started up the stairs.

          Tp-tp-tp-tp-tp-tp-tp.

          Glenn ran as fast as he could up the stairs. He couldn't hear the spiders anymore, but he wasn't taking chances.

          But he was fast losing energy. Running up stairs was not easy, but fear drove him on. When he was still running few minutes later, he was amazed at his endurance. After twenty minutes of running, pain began to pulse in his side. He wasn't sure if he'd have the guts to go on. But he did. Bat in hand, he ran up those stairs for a half an hour. Then he saw a familiar landmark.

          The huge web was not five steps above Glenn. He stopped and rested. Setting the bat down, he sighed and wiped his forehead. He was drenched in sweat. More than once he'd considered dropping his bag, but never went through with it. He opened it and found a Bottle of Water. He took a few sips and set it beside him.

          Glenn got to relax for five minutes before rapid, echoing "tippity-tippity"ing was coming from below. The Arachnid!s may still be a long way down, but Glenn decided he'd leave now. He took another sip of water and put the bottle back in his bag.

          Getting his stuff together, Glenn started up again. Rested, renewed (if only for a few minutes), Glenn set a good pace. He wasn't sure he had left to go, but he'd get there.

          Glenn heard it before he first saw light from above. A heartbeat. It got louder and louder as Glenn ascended the stairs.

          What's more, Glenn knew it wasn't his own heart beating like that. His heart was racing, trying to keep up with Glenn. The heart above was beating steadily, slowly, like a person in the dark who doesn't want to be heard and is trying to slow their hearts so it wouldn't give away their position.

          Glenn kept going. Whatever it was, it was in the tent. And the tent was not much further. Looking up, he could see the hole where he and the chair fell through the floor. It was illuminated by a red light from above it.

          Eventually, that red light was right before Glenn. The stairs were winding up to an exit way along the wall of the tent.

          When Glenn finally made it out, he caught his breath for a second and looked up to see where that red light was coming from. Glenn gasped.

          A giant, beating heart was attached to the middle of the ceiling of the tent. It seemed to be giving off the red light. But it wasn't a warm light, like when you stand in the sun. The heart's light was, if anything, colder than the metal of the tunnel below.

          Glenn, happy to be off the stairs, walked toward the center of the tent, looking up, examining the heart. He noticed that the tent didn't have any more holes in it. The ceiling and walls were clean, smooth, well taken care of. This baffled Glenn because usually in Bleed things were in worse condition than when they started. Glenn half expected the tent to be a skeleton of itself.

          He needed the table in the center of the tent. He leaned on it. Swish! The table fell through the floor!

          Glenn backed away as the floor of the tent began to fall away from the middle out. Glenn reached the wall of the tent, groped for an exit in the folds of the tough canvas material. He tried along the wall, aware that the floor was caving in closer and closer. Glenn grabbed, pulled, grabbed, pulled, grabbed, pulled, nothing. The floor was about to give in below Glenn's feet when he yelled "Forgot it!" and pulled under the canvas and crawled out of the tent beneath the material.

          Glenn sighed in relief as the sound of the ground falling stopped coming from the tent.

          "You think you can infiltrate my secret area, steal from my stash, evade my minions, destroy my heart chamber, and get away with it, do you?"  
          Glenn, surprised by the voice, turned to see a huge face attached to the tent. The face was evil, with big eyes and a monstrous mouth lined by sharp teeth.

          Glenn stood up, bat ready.

          "So you think you can fight the Boogey Tent, do you? I won't waste my time!" The Boogey Tent's mouth opened wide and Arachnid!s began pouring out of its mouth.

          So, all of that running was for nothing. Angered, Glenn jumped into the fray. There had to be over a hundred Arachnid!s there, more coming from the tent's mouth.

          The tent chuckled.

          Glenn SMAAASH!ed one, then another, then another. The spiders didn't have time to react. They came expecting easy prey, one that was winded after running up miles of stairway.

          The tent stopped chuckling and even closed its mouth when Glenn began hitting the Arachnid!s into the Boogey Tent's face. The number of Arachnid!s dropped significantly. Eventually, most ran off into the safety of the empty fog of Bleed.

          The Boogey Tent got angry. "No!" it said, "I will not give up Bleed's hold on this city! GWAARGH!"

          It spewed stuff from its mouth. It missed, and Glenn recognized it as the stuff that filled the jars in the boxes in that storage room. The stuff was sticky and would definitely disable Glenn if he got drenched with it.

          Glenn charged the Boogey Tent. It opened its mouth, spewed its Yellow syrup, but Glenn dodged it. He ran right up to the tent and swung.

          SMAAASH!

          The tent began to fade, a look of shock and pain on its face.

          The whole world seemed to flash white. In an instant, the tent before Glenn became worn and torn. He was back in Threed.

          Glenn heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a ten-foot tall figure advancing on him.

          With a cry of anger, Glenn charged at the Ultimate Evil. He swung with everything he had in him.

          SMAASH!

          Glenn tried to pull back for another swing, but his bat was stuck. He looked and saw that the Ultimate Evil was holding the bat firm. The blow hadn't even fazed him.

          "Paula's been captured," he said in a squeaky, monotonous voice.

          "What?"

          "She's being held in the graveyard to the north. She was surprise attacked in the graveyard secret passageway. You need to rescue her." The Ultimate Evil let go of the bat and Glenn was off.

          Wild ideas began to burst into Glenn's head. That maybe he was wrong. Maybe the Ultimate Evil wasn't so. Maybe he was just like him and Paula, trapped in this stupid town and doing what he could to get out.

          The thought crossed his mind that maybe the Ultimate Evil was lying. But Glenn didn't think so. Not about Paula. If they were as close as Paula said they were, He would find her in the graveyard.

          Glenn came to a fence that surrounded the graveyard. A big "DON'T ENTER" sign hung from it. Glen didn't heed the warning and continued on into the cemetery.

          The fog thickened as Glenn walked past the fence. Almost immediately a noise went off inside his bag. Glenn had almost forgotten about that sound. He nearly jumped out of his skin. But when the sound registered in Glenn's head, he prepared himself.

          His eyes kept on the fog. Looking this way and that for signs of movement. The fog shifted and swayed lazily, but no disturbances caught Glenn's attention. The radio was putting Glenn on edge, and no zombies seemed to be around. He put down his bag and took out the radio.

          Glenn thought hard for a second. If he took it off, he'd have to be on constant alert. He'd have nothing to tell him if a zombie was close by. He'd have to trust his instincts.

          He lowered the volume and the sound faded to nothing. What good would it do if it was on constantly? No, he was better off without it.

          He put the bag back on his back and cautiously advanced through the fog, bat ready.

          He started to see the cemetery's tombstones  Most were small, but some were extravagant. It was rumored that Threed citizens were beginning to treat their dead with respect, since the zombie siege. They thought the dead wouldn't attack again if shown the proper respect...

          Glenn was walking past one tombstone when he noticed it had one of those ornamental angel statues on it. Glenn never liked the idea of those little, nude, child-like angels. He was usually creeped out by their eyes. Their eyeballs were smooth and empty, deathlike.

          He stared into the eyes of this angel. They had a red tinge to them. Glenn thought this was strange. The eyes were shadowed, but the red tinge was clear. He reached out his hand...

          "Ack!"

          Glenn was frozen. The hand of that little angel was clutching Glenn's finger. The hand was icy to the touch. Glenn stared wide-eyed as the angel grinned. The mouth had teeth! The angel's red-tinged eyes began to glow. The shadows around the eyes became more pronounced, like dark circles. Glenn gasped, more out of fear than surprise.

          "_This is it_," thought Glenn. "_I couldn't see Threed. I couldn't see Paula._"

          The angel's shape rippled. Suddenly it was no longer a stone angel but a Zombie Possessor. It began to reach out with its other hand to possess Glenn.

          Glenn's grip on the bat tightened.

          The Zombie Possessor's eyes glittered in glee.

          Glenn felt his fear leave him as that hand neared his forehead.

          "No!" Glenn jumped back and prepared to swing. The Zombie Possessor, surprised, tried to call for help. But call came too late. The bat came around and, amazingly, SMAAASH!ed the Zombie Possessor in the head. The Zombie Possessor faded away.

          And Glenn realized that what had been holding him before was not so much the icy touch of the ghost. It might have been part of it, but the thing that disabled his movement the most was fear. But when he thought about the city... of Paula dying because of him, his courage returned.

          Glenn understood now. Courage was the greatest weapon here.

          There was movement behind Glenn. He turned, bat ready. But the Zombie Possessor behind him was backing away in fear. It turned and fled. It was weak if it couldn't feed off of Glenn's fear.

          Glenn dismissed the ghost. IT didn't pay to chase it: it no longer posed a threat. He continued down the line of graves, not exactly sure what he was looking for, until he found it.

          It was another tombstone. It was not like the others, though. There were no names on this one. Instead it said: "Beware below. Before death takes the life of a prisoner, insanity takes the mind."

          Glenn began to search the tombstone for a button or lever that might open a secret passage or something. He passed his hands over the words carved into the stone, feeling for any abnormal surface or crease, a keyhole or a loose piece of the stone.

          As Glenn began to fiddle with a small piece that was somewhat loose, an arctic-cold wind hit his back. Shivering, teeth chattering, Glenn turned around. There was a zombie. But it wasn't like the other zombies, in the fact that this zombie's skin was more of a dusty orange color and the zombie's muscles were more pronounced.

          Glenn jumped up, but the zombie swung at Glenn and knocked him to the ground. Glenn tried to scramble away, to grip his bat, but the zombie wasn't giving Glenn much of a chance. The zombie kicked Glenn back until his back was against the strange tombstone. Knowing he wasn't going to get the chance to stand up again, aching from the bruises on his legs and sides left by the zombie's kicks, Glenn wrapped his legs around one of the zombie's and twisted. The zombie tripped and Glenn managed to scramble to his feet and get behind the zombie, putting it between Glenn and the strange tombstone. The zombie stood up, its red eyes flaring in anger. But Glenn was ready now. He charged and thrust the bat into the zombie's gut. Then he brought the bat up, hitting the zombie in the chin, and swung the bat back down on the zombie's head. The zombie reeled, gasping in pain, and Glenn made another charge. He swung the bat into the zombie's body, sending it careening toward the tombstone. The force of impact turned the zombie to dust on the spot and knocked the tombstone off its foundation.

          Glenn drew a deep breath to let the adrenaline subside. When he could think straight again, he walked over to where the tombstone once stood. There was a hole there now, with a ladder.

          Glenn started to climb down into the ladder. The air from the hole was cool and dry, stagnant with a faint smell of decay. The ladder wasn't nearly as long as Glenn had expected. It led to a cave-like, underground hallway with a low ceiling.

          Glenn stepped through the hallway cautiously, but even the hallway was short. It ended at a wall with a big, heavy, iron door. Glenn opened it cautiously, trying to make as little noise as possible. The next room was very dark, and when Glenn closed the door behind him, the light was gone altogether.

          The room was quiet. Glenn did as little as possible to change that as he made his way across the room, fully aware that he was not alone here. Something else was hiding in the dark. But apparently the darkness was as much of a hindrance to whatever else was in there as it was to Glenn. It hadn't made any move to attack Glenn, who felt defenseless in the dark.

          A break in the silence. Something moved behind Glenn. He heard the air move with it. The air was surprisingly loud to him now. He turned, bat ready, but continued to walk backwards, hoping to find his way out of this room quickly.

          Glenn heard movement, a rustle of clothing. A blunt object hit a glancing blow off Glenn's shoulder. He tried to retaliate by swinging the bat around wildly, but the thing had backed away from him again. But he didn't hear it get away from-

          Wham! A direct hit to Glenn's back. He yelped, almost fell to his knees, but realizing the importance of this battle, gathered enough energy to turn and swing behind him. It hit the thing's legs and knocked it clean off of its feet, gasping in surprise.

          Glenn took this moment to run the rest of the way to the other end of the room and find a door. The other thing that was in there was slowly recovering, but Glenn slowed down a bit so he wouldn't run head long into the wall. He reached out with his hands and eventually found wall. It was rocky and uneven. Glenn searched for metal, a door of any kind, but found nothing. He gave up and pulled out his flashlight. He'd be giving away his position, but it didn't matter. If he could find the exit, it was a chance worth taking.

          Taking out his flashlight, he shone it along the wall. Nothing! There was no door! ...A Trap?

          His friend was running toward him now. Glenn turned the flashlight over to it...

          "Paula?"

          She hesitated. She had been running toward Glenn with her frying pan above her head.

          "Who... who is it?"

          "It's me! Glenn!" he turned the light back onto himself. Paula blinked for a second, adjusting to the light, then she brightened. Glenn let out a sigh, almost laughing in relief. Paula seemed to be laughing as well.

          "So it was you I hit in the back like that?"  
          "Are your legs okay?"

          "Is your back okay?"

          "How long have you been here?"

          "What happened at the tent?"

          "Did you find anything out?"

          "Did you find anything out?"

          They stood short for a second, then started laughing. They laughed at what just happened. They laughed at themselves. They laughed at everything that happened so far. They laughed at life. They laughed at death.

          Glenn walked over to Paula and set his stuff down. He sat on the ground and Paula sat down as well.

          "You go first," said Paula.

          "Not much," said Glenn. "I checked out the tent, fell through a hole in the floor, checked out the bottom of the hole, was chased back up by Arachnid!s, and fought a demonic tent. I didn't really learn anything."

          "Neither did I. I checked out the underground passage. There weren't many zombies when I went in, and it ended in another one of those chasms. On my way out, I was ambushed by a gang of zombies and ghosts. I might have won if I wasn't surprised attacked. But I never got the chance to attack."

          "Well, what do we do now?" asked Glenn.

          "I think all we can do is walk around town aimlessly, hoping we stumble into their base. I honestly thought I would either be the passage or the tent."

          "So what, I take East Threed, you take West?"

          "No," Paula shook her head. "Actually, I think we'll be better off sticking together... There's safety in numbers."

          Glenn didn't argue. They sat and rested a while before they headed for the now-unlocked prison door.

          Glenn extended his hand and helped Paula up the ladder. The white fog was strangely bright now, and their eyes took awhile to adjust.

          They started west, finding a trail between the two town cemeteries. Paula started south down the trail, but Glenn hesitated.

          "What's to the north?" he asked.

          "What?" Paula turned around. "Oh, I don't know. More cemetery, I suppose."

          "Hmm..." Glenn started north thoughtfully.

          Paula groaned in frustration and followed.

          They walked through the thick fog. Soon, forest lined the trail on both sides. They were leaving the cemeteries, not to mention the city, behind. Paula caught up closer to Glenn.

          They came to a clearing. The only reason Glenn could tell was because he could no longer see the trees through the fog. She saw a monument of some sort in front of him. It looked like a huge tombstone. Glenn walked up to it. It was taller than he was, very wide, and a few feet thick. It was made of white stone and was well taken care of. There was writing on it...

          Paula walked up to the monument and looked it over.

          "No problem here," she said. "Let's go, there's a lot of city we have to explore."

          "Hold on," said Glenn. "Look! A riddle!"

          "So?"

          "Maybe something will happen if we figure it out!"

          Paula said nothing, but nodded her consent for Glenn to read it aloud.

          "It's a poem," Glenn said.

"Gas builds the stars,

Bile's a fluke,

Not Belch or Barf,

I'm now Master _ _ _ _."

          "Sound's nasty. Why would any one want that on their tombstone?" asked Paula.

          "Exactly! Let's see... four letters... rhymes with fluke..."

          "Juke?"

          "Juke?!!"

          "Like in... jukebox?"  
          "But that doesn't make sense!"

          "The whole thing doesn't make sense."

          "Maybe it's a unamyperbole."

          "You mean onomatopoeia?"

          "That's what I said! When you put a sound into words. Maybe if I belched something that rhymed with fluke."

          Paula's eyes widened. "Belch?"

          "Yeah," said Glenn. "I can do that on command, watch-"

          "No! Belch! Then... Barf... So it must be Puke!"

          "Puke? Well that does make sense. I don't see how you made the connection, but let's see..." Glenn turned to the monument.

"Gas builds the stars,

Bile's a fluke,

Not Belch or Barf,

I'm now Master Puke."

          Glenn and Paula held their breath. A sound like a latch opening sounded and a part of the monument began to slide open.

          Glenn peered into the new door. A thin, stone stairway descended down under the monument and much further below the ground.

          "Good guess," said Glenn.

          Paula didn't say anything. Glenn took out his flashlight and led the way down the stairs. Paula followed close behind. Soon they felt that they must have been a few hundred feet below the ground. A light was shining from below. Unnatural light. Electrical light. Glenn took off his flashlight and increased his pace.

          The light came from a doorway. Glenn stood in it and stared into the huge chamber before him. It was mostly empty, but what was there was north entry. The floor was covered in a sort of thick, gray goop. A particularly large pile of the stuff stood at the far end of the chamber. Next to that large pile was an altar. Standing upon that altar was a golden statue of a man with horns with a sword before him.

          "What is that?" asked Glenn.

          "Master Puke," said Paula. "Five years ago he held siege to Threed using zombies."

          "That pile of goop?"

          "Yes. But don't underestimate him. He's insanely strong." Paula stared at that golden statue on the altar. "This statue seems a bit familiar too... but I don't remember where form..." She shrugged and took out her frying pan.

          Glenn took out his bat.

          Together they advanced upon the particularly large pile of gray, slimy mass. Their steps were loud, each one making a loud suction noise as they lifted their feet from the sludge.

          Glenn began to wonder whether Master Puke could hear at all. He made no motion, didn't seem to acknowledge their existence. But when Glenn and Paula were about two yards away from it, the slime began to turn around. Glenn put his hand over his mouth as the face came into view.

          The eyes protruded from the head like antennae. The mouth was wide and disgusting. The lips were red and melting like the rest of the sludge. Two teeth, two large, pointed teeth stood up from the depths of the creature's mouth. And not only was the face disgusting, but the smell coming from it made Glenn gag. It got worse as the thing spoke.

          "So, *Gyork* *Gyork*, you are the ones that have been causing trouble for me. *Buuuurp* I'll make you suffer *spanky* Revenge will be complete. *Buuuurp* With help from *spankety* *spankety* Mani Mani. *Wheeze* I'll throw you in."

          The creature turned away and looked at the statue beside him. Glenn gasped for breathable air. Paula looked to be in deep thought.

          "Mani Mani... That statue of Carpainter's! The one Monotoli had! The illusion device! Now I see! Bleed is to Threed as Moonside is to Fourside! If only Ness would have told me more..."

          Glenn didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't care, either. He was staring at the statue. It was beginning to radiate darkness. Master Puke was chuckling in glee.

          "Feel the true *Gyork* power of Mani Mani!"

          Master Puke disappeared, as did the puke-filled chamber. Mani Mani stood before Glenn and Paula on the platform. Everything else looked like space flying by.

          "Attack it!" yelled Paula. "It's all an illusion! It'll all go away if we kill it!"

          Glenn made ready to attack when the statue suddenly flashed brightly. Glenn managed to cover his eyes in time to prevent lasting damage, but Paula was left crying uncontrollably. Instead of attacking like she was going to do, Paula began to concentrate on a psychic attack. Glenn charged in and bashed the statue. Though it SMAAASH!ed the statue, the bat bounced off of the thing like wood off of metal. Glenn left his damage, though. The bat left a dent in the statue.

          Paula cast PSI Freeze Omega, using similar motions that were used on the Carbon Dog.

          Glenn couldn't tell if that attack hurt it or not, but the thing couldn't seem to do anything. Glenn attacked again, bringing his bat up for a deathblow. The hit struck hard on Mani Mani's head. The metal, made brittle by the freeze, cracked instead of dented from the bat's force. One of the horns broke off and a crack appeared on the shoulder.

          Paula raised her hands to the heavens. "PSI Thunder Omega!" She brought her hands down and a lightning bolt struck near the statue. Paula dismissed the miss and raised her hands again. She brought them down again. The lighting connected with the single horn of the Mani Mani statue. Electricity jumped around on the statue as Paula sent another bolt down, again striking the horn. It shattered this time, leaving Mani Mani's head bald. Paula cast one last bold down upon the statue. It struck the head dead center. The statue exploded into bits, pelting Glenn and Paula with the debris.

          But not much damage was done before the place began to flash white and they ended up back in the slimy chamber of Master Puke, wondering if they'd actually been hurt at all.

          Master Puke rippled up and down in anger. He was ready to fight, but Paula was still crying uncontrollably.

          "My plan is ruined! *wheeze* The both of you! *Gyork* *Gyork* Don't do to heaven! *Buuuurp!*"

          The huge monster moved unbelievably fast. He went after Glenn, but Glenn was ready. Focusing all of his power into his next attack, he bashed Master Puke... but his bat got stuck in it. Glenn tried to pull it free, but Master Puke grabbed Glenn and flung him away.

          Glenn hit the floor hard, then skid through the slime. When he managed to return to his feet, he watched as Master Puke advanced on Paula. As hard as she tried, her attacks didn't seem to even affect it! Puke was right near her, and with a belch of excursion, swung.

          Flash! Something suddenly flew right past Glenn, straight at Master Puke. Master Puke screamed as a huge man rammed it with the force of a train.

          "Ulty!" yelled Paula in relief.

          The Ultimate Evil and Master Puke fought on. Ultimate Evil punched, kicked, tackled, and body slammed. Puke belched, bashed, and bit. The Ultimate Evil was soon bloody. Cotton was falling from a cut on his head.

          The Ultimate Evil was losing.

          "Get out!" he yelled in a loud, yet still squeaky monotonous voice. He turned from Master Puke, who was belching in the thrill of battle. Going to the wall, he began punching it, shaking the Earth and beginning to make the roof cave in.

          Paula watched in despair for a second, but when Master Puke caught up with the Ultimate Evil and threw him aside like a rag doll, she fled. Master Puke gave chase as she headed for Glenn, telling him to get out.

          But Glenn was stunned. Parts of the ceiling fell around him as he stared where the Ultimate Evil lay unmoving on the ground.

          Paula grabbed him as she passed and forced him to move. He finally started to run on his own, when Master Puke grabbed Glenn around the ankles. He tripped. His bag fell and everything in it spilled out. Paula turned and looked. Wide-eyed, she ran back and grabbed something off of the floor.

          Master Puke stopped pulling on Glenn when Paula started waving something in the air. Glenn looked up to see.

          She was holding in her hands the jar of syrup-stuff Glenn found under the tent. She unscrewed the top and threw it to Master Puke. "Fly Honey!" he yelled as he released Glenn and grabbed the jar from the air.      As he lost himself in the Fly Honey, Glenn and Paula managed to reach the staircase. About halfway up, a loud crash told them that the chamber had collapsed on itself, burying Master Puke. Burying the Ultimate Evil...

          When Glenn and Paula reached the surface, everything was different. The fog was dissipating. The sun was coming up from behind the trees. Glenn had been in Threed only a day, though it felt like weeks had gone by.

          Glenn smiled, basking in the light. He thought about the Ultimate Evil; how he'd helped Glenn to the hospital after the fight with the Zombie Possessors; how he left Glenn the Hall of Fame Bat in the bathroom in the hospital; how he kept that tape safe for Glenn to find; how he defeated all of the zombies in the first and second floor of the hospital for Glenn; how he saved Glenn form the Plague Rat of Doom; and how he told Glenn where to find Paula and save her.

          The Ultimate Evil was the one responsible for Glenn getting as far as he did. He thanked him silently. 

          Paula seemed to be doing much the same thing.

          They didn't speak to each other. They just walked down the trail toward Threed. They still had to find the rest of Threed's citizens, if they were still alive.

          Glenn wondered when it was... that he stopped caring so much for his mother and started caring for what he had: his life... his friend, Paula. He'd changed in the last twenty-four hours. He realized that now.

          Now he'd work with Paula to find the missing people. Whether or not they would they'd find out later, but for now they just had to try.

          A ten-foot tall figure watched the two from the trees. It watched them until they were out of view. Then, suddenly, the figure disappeared.

THE END

…?


End file.
